1. Nat. Rev. Gastroenterol. Hepatol. doi:10.1038/nrgastro.2016.107
Figure 5 Enteric manifestations of lytic VZV infection of the mucosa and latent VZV infection of the ENS
Figure 5 | Enteric manifestations of lytic VZV infection of the mucosa and latent VZV infection of the ENS. a | Mucosal biopsy sample from a patient with a perforated gastric ulcer. The patient's saliva and stomach contained DNA encoding varicella zoster virus (VZV) gene products. The gastric epithelium has been infected and shows the immunoreactivity of gE (ORF68p; green) and ORF63p (red). DNA has been stained with bisbenzimide (blue). There is a slight superimposition of white light in interference contrast to allow all components of the tissue to be visualized. Newly infected cells (arrows) where the virus is spreading are mostly red fluorescent because ORF63 is an immediate early gene and gE is a late gene. The highly infected cells contain both gene products and are yellow. Scale bar = 20 μm. b | Ileum of a guinea pig injected with VZV-infected lymphocytes. The VZV expresses green fluorescent protein (GFP) under the control of the VZV promoter for ORF66. The red fluorescence is the immunoreactivity of β3-tubulin, a neuronal marker. Virtually all enteric neurons contain latent VZV. Note that the VZV is confined to nerve cell bodies and is not seen in neurites within the interganglionic connectives (red). Thus, the neurons are not actually producing viral particles. The restriction of ORF66-GFP to cell bodies is therefore an indicator of viral latency. DNA has been stained with bisbenzimide (blue). Scale bar = 20 μm.
Rao, M. & Gershon, M. D. (2016) The bowel and beyond: the enteric nervous system in neurological disorders
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